Welcome

Welcome to the September edition of Housing Quality Magazine.

With new legislation and regulations coming into force over the past year, housing providers will need to make sure they’re up to speed on safety.

This month’s cover feature is in collaboration with the Health and Safety Executive, giving you a guide to the Building Safety Act and what the Building Safety Regulator expects from providers.

They also offer information on areas of improvement, as well as a timeline of how the secondary legislation will develop.

Keeping on with the safety theme, we look at the importance of adaptations in homes and how installing stigma-free design throughout housing stock can improve residents’ health, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and save the organisation money.

Our topical feature is on a hugely important topic: rent setting. As we wait to see what the inflation figure is later this month, we set out some practical ways in which the sector can try and get on top of the situation and areas in which we can provide support.

On the topic of support, we also give you a guide through the incoming inspections regime as we see it. We’ve plenty of help available, with some top tips in a variety of areas.

Elsewhere in the edition, I interview Thirteen Group’s outgoing CEO, Ian Wardle. He looks back on his time as the Northeast landlord’s boss, as well as at some of the big issues currently facing the sector.

You’ll also find our regular Evidence special, with thanks to our partners CaCHE and HSA. This time we look at the latest research on homelessness deaths, retrofit and building homes in wildfire hazard areas.

Our views section contains some interesting reads, from tips for income collectors to the Housing Ombudsman’s column on improving record keeping. We’ve also got a resident’s perspective on how to better engage residents in safety.

Finally, our spotlight section does exactly that and shines a light on the people that make the sector tick. With a Day in the Life of a Building Safety Manager to a CEO’s journey from Wales to Guernsey, there’s plenty to get stuck into.

As always, if you have any feedback for the magazine or would like to be involved in a future edition, please email me: mark.lawrence@hqnetwork.co.uk

I hope you enjoy the edition.

Mark Lawrence, Senior Content Editor, HQN